Tempo, tension and quality, this enthralling semifinal had it all. In the end it needed a dramatic shootout — after a goal by each team during normal and extra time — to produce the result in favour of Italy, who converted 4 spot kicks against 2 by Spain, to send their supporters into ecstasy.
Italy’s delighted manager, Roberto Mancini, said: “We knew it was going to be a very tough match because in terms of ball possession Spain are now the best around. This caused us problems, we needed to dig in. We tried to score or open opportunities when we could. It was a very open match, there were some issues because we didn’t have much possession. We kept trying to score because penalties are a lottery but I take my hat off to Spain they are a wonderful side.”
He added: “We are very happy for all of this. I thank the players, they believed from day one that we could produce something incredible. But we haven’t done everything we need to, there is still one step to go and we have to rest up because this was very challenging. I did say before the match this was going to be our hardest game because if you go into your sixth match in such quick succession with all the travelling it becomes very tiring but we wanted to make the final.”
The first half was breathless with a series of missed chances by both sides. Nicolo Barella was marginally offside when his shot hit a post while for Spain Ferran Torres pulled a shot wide and Dani Olmo’s low drive brought a fine diving save by Gianluigi Donnarumma in the Italian goal. He later saved from Mikel Oyarzabal while at the other end Unai Simon brought off excellent saves from Federico Chiesa’s hit while Sergio Busquets shot over the bar.
The game was a master-class throughout, particularly in terms of Spain’s ball control and keeping possession and Italy’s brilliance in counter attacks. It was one of these quick incursions that brought the first goal on the hour. Ciro Immobile broke through from a long pass and found Chiesa whose magnificent right-footed curling shot went into the far corner.
Spain immediately brought on substitute Alvaro Morata for Torres and pushed forward looking for the equaliser. It came soon after a shot by Oyarzabal went narrowly wide and so did one from Morata. But with just ten minutes of normal time remaining, Morata did a quick one-two with Olmo and calmly placed his left-footed shot inside the near post to take the game into extra time.
With neither side able to find the net during the 30 minutes while applying caution as well, the dreaded penalties followed. Both sides nervously missed their first attempts, Spain then missed two more, the last was a tame effort from Morata. Finally, Jorginho with his unique skip/hop sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and Italian fans, among the 66,000 in the stadium, into a frenzy.
We kept trying to score because penalties are a lottery but I take my hat off to Spain they are a wonderful side
Roberto ManciniItaly manager
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